An Emerging Leadership Model for Millennial Educators

The study unveiled perceptions of school leaders and their expectations of millennial educators in terms of Drivers, Fit, Leadership Style and Culture, and Unconscious Biases with the endview of discovering an emerging leadership model for millennial educators. This employed explanatory-sequential design with two-phased, mixed-method approach. Results revealed that Drivers, Fit, Leadership Style and Culture, and Unconscious Biases and other leadership principles, school heads’ consideration of these domains lead to better commitment and performance of their leadership roles, while millennial teachers’ expectations of their school head’s role can guide current and aspiring school heads in managing a growing millennial generation of educators. Hereafter, six key elements appeared include Professional Instigation, Personal Provocation, Leadership Direction, Cultural Condition, Self-Predilection, and Organizational Acclimation. These emerging leadership principles upheld by millennial educators may be considered priorities of Professional Development Programs across all levels

La Educación Abierta en el Siglo XXI

Empezamos por definir la Educación Abierta por lo que no debe ser: no es la Educación a Distancia. Resolvemos “a priori”, los malos entendidos que se puedan generar. La Educación a Distancia traslada la forma presencial escolarizada de la enseñanza tradicional a la no presencial, en distintos lugares y estrategias de control y de evaluación. La filosofía y la relación educativa alumnado, profesorado, familia siguen centradas en los tiempos y los contenidos cerrados del proceso de enseñanza más que en el aprendizaje. La Educación Abierta rompe con la idea de tiempo, de espacio, incluso, con los periodos vacacionales y los cursos escolares. Se asienta sobre una programación-evaluación longitudinal, continua, lógica, progresiva y acumulativa, con el Referente Curricular (R.C) y unidades de trabajo adaptadas a los ritmos de aprendizaje del alumnado y a sus circunstancias personales, familiares y profesionales. Después de más de cincuenta años, la Educación Abierta dará respuesta a la atención a la diversidad, a la Educación Inclusiva y a los principios de la Educación Recurrente. En cualquier situación y en cualquier circunstancia, con el apoyo inestimable de las TICs actuales y del futuro, como instrumentos al servicio del proceso educativo. La Educación, finalmente llegará a todas las personas, hasta los confines del mundo, como instrumento imprescindible para alcanzar la libertad, el respeto, la igualdad de derechos y la consolidación de la Democracia. La Educación Abierta promueve un cambio profundo en la formación previa, en la selección y en la actualización del profesorado, piedra angular de la calidad Educativa. Un cambio en la mentalidad de la sociedad y de los políticos que deben poner los medios necesarios y favorecer las iniciativas, que abran fronteras hacia la Educación del futuro. Como ejemplo se estudiarán casos reales

Electrostatic attraction between cationic-anionic assemblies with surface compositional heterogeneities

Electrostatics plays a key role in biomolecular assembly. Oppositely charged biomolecules, for instance, can co-assembled into functional units, such as DNA and histone proteins into nucleosomes and actin-binding protein complexes into cytoskeleton components, at appropriate ionic conditions. These cationic-anionic co-assemblies often have surface charge heterogeneities that result from the delicate balance between electrostatics and packing constraints. Despite their importance, the precise role of surface charge heterogeneities in the organization of cationic-anionic co-assemblies is not well understood. We show here that co-assemblies with charge heterogeneities strongly interact through polarization of the domains. We find that this leads to symmetry breaking, which is important for functional capabilities, and structural changes, which is crucial in the organization of co-assemblies. We determine the range and strength of the attraction as a function of the competition between the steric and hydrophobic constraints and electrostatic interactions.Comment: JCP June/200

Fluoride in ash leachates: environmental implications at Popocatépetl volcano, central Mexico

Ash emitted by volcanic eruptions, even of moderate magnitude, may affect the environment and the health of humans and animals through different mechanisms at distances significantly larger than those indicated in the volcanic hazard maps. One such mechanism is the high capacity of ash to transport toxic volatiles like fluoride, as soluble condensates on the particles' surface. The mobilization and hazards related to volcanic fluoride are discussed based on the data obtained during the recent activity of Popocatépetl volcano in Central Mexico

Photon spectra from WIMP annihilation

If the present dark matter in the Universe annihilates into Standard Model particles, it must contribute to the fluxes of cosmic rays that are detected on the Earth, and in particular, to the observed gamma ray fluxes. The magnitude of such contribution depends on the particular dark matter candidate, but certain features of the produced photon spectra may be analyzed in a rather model-independent fashion. In this work we provide the complete photon spectra coming from WIMP annihilation into Standard Model particle-antiparticle pairs obtained by extensive Monte Carlo simulations. We present results for each individual annihilation channel and provide analytical fitting formulae for the different spectra for a wide range of WIMP masses.Comment: 23 pages, 37 figures and 23 table

PVA/ alginate/ tannic acid crosslinked aerogels with low flammability and high mechanical resistance

Aerogels are ultra-light, highly porous materials derived from gels in which the solvent has been replaced by gas. Aerogels based on renewable and biodegradable materials are gained attention as environmentally friendly alternatives to conventional foam [1]. This study focuses on the mechanical, thermal, and combustion behavior of a polyvinyl alcohol (PVA), sodium alginate (SA) and tannic acid (TA) aerogel obtained by freeze-drying and ion crosslinking (Ca2+ and B - ). Aerogels containing 5g of PVA, 3g of TA, and 2g of SA exhibit the highest compressive resistance, which was increased by 30% after crosslinking (87.4 MPa/gcm -3 ). In comparison to pure PVA, the addition of TA and SA to the blends decreased its thermal degradation rate. The crosslinking further contributed to an 81% of reduction of the degradation rate (0.16 %/ºC) making samples high thermally stable. Regarding flammability samples burnt after being exposed to radiation due to the presence of the highly combustible PVA. However, the heat release rate (HRR) and fire growth (FIGRA) parameters decreased by 67% and 50% respectively when TA and SA was added to pure PVA aerogel. After crosslinking, an additional decrement of 35% in HRR and 54% in FIGRA respectively was obtained (76 kW/m2 and 1.96 kW/m2 s), which corresponds to a very low flame intensity. These results are down below of previous values reported by Wu et al.[2], who worked on PVA/SA crosslinking aerogels filled with inorganic montmorillonite. Hence, the cross-linked aerogels presented here can be considered a very promising sustainable alternative to conventional fossil-derived foams

Incorporación de vídeos como material de apoyo para el desarrollo de habilidades de visualización espacial 3D en los estudiantes de cálculo vectorial de la Universidad del Quindío.

El objetivo de este estudio es evaluar el impacto que tiene la incorporación de videos como material de apoyo para el desarrollo de habilidades de visualización espacial 3D, con la utilización de un software educativo, en estudiantes que cursan la asignatura de cálculo vectorial en la Universidad del Quindío. Cabe resaltar que los estudiantes se están acoplando a la información transmitida en medios digitales. Para cumplir este propósito se pretende explorar las experiencias de los estudiantes frente a este tipo de recursos y describir las diferentes estrategias que los mismos utilizan para resolver los problemas de visualización tanto cuantitativa como cualitativamente, así se analizará la asimilación de contenidos por parte de los estudiantes. Como resultado se espera que los estudiantes tengan una mejora en sus habilidades de visualización espacial, lo que permitirá mejorar el aprendizaje en las prácticas de aula de la Universidad del Quindí

Immersive virtual reality and antigravity treadmill training for gait rehabilitation in Parkinson’s disease: A pilot and feasibility study

Introduction. Treadmill training is considered an effective intervention to improve gait ability in patients with Parkinson’s disease (PD). In parallel, virtual reality shows promising intervention with several applications in the inpatient medical setting. Aim. To evaluate the feasibility and preliminary efficacy of mechanical gait assistance combined with immersive virtual reality in patients with PD. Patients and methods. This pilot and feasibility study followed a pre-post study design. The intervention consisted of 12 sessions of 30 minutes, distributed regularly over four consecutive weeks. Participants walked on a treadmill with a body- weight support system set at approximately 20% of body weight and equipped with a virtual reality helmet controlled by a two-handed joystick. Feasibility and intervention outcomes were collected at baseline and after four weeks of intervention. Results. Twelve participants of 60 patients were finally enrolled. Nine of them (75%) completed the treatment intervention with an adherence rate of 97%. Two participants left the study, one of them due to sickness associated with virtual reality and another because of a lack of motivation. There were significant differences associated with small-medium effect sizes when comparing the pre and post values for walk distance, walk speed, balance, and quality of life. Conclusions. The present study provided preliminary evidence supporting the feasibility of the combination of antigravity treadmill and immersive virtual reality system for the rehabilitation of patients with PD